News

This week, 540 had a successful groundbreaking, which means that our highest priority is almost under construction! We were honored to be a part of the 540 groundbreaking ceremony. See below for a few additional updates in this weekly member briefing from the RTA business coalition — the voice of the regional business community on transportation.

RTA endorses Multimodal Gateway concept for Capital Blvd.
The RTA business coalition has endorsed a City of Raleigh proposal to eliminate all traffic signals on Capital Boulevard for through travel between I-440 and I-540 . At our Leadership Team meeting this week, we received an update from the City and RTA member firm WSP on a proposal to create separate through travel and local access lanes, including a provision for priority lanes for bus rapid transit (BRT). The through lanes, adjacent to the median, would gently rise over all cross streets, via bridges, avoiding all stoplights and potentially saving an estimated 25-50 minutes in travel time compared to a “do nothing” alternative, while making it simpler and safer for pedestrians to cross Capital. The local lanes, on the outside, would continue to provide business access and serve cross streets via signalized intersections.  To say Capital Boulevard could be better than it is today is an understatement; with this innovative proposal from the City, we could have a true multimodal gateway boulevard worthy of Raleigh. The regional business community will encourage and assist the City, NCDOT, and Wake Transit partners to explore a variety of funding sources to make this proposed design concept a reality – as soon as possible.

RTA RDU “AID” task force gaining momentum
So far, we have had two meetings of our RTA RDU AID task force. Focused on identifying solutions for Airport Infrastructure Development, the task force is absorbing a lot of information quickly about the magnitude of the emerging funding problem and potential opportunities and approaches to address it. We plan to meet again at least twice before the end of 2019; this recent blog has more information on the task force. Feel free to offer suggestions and potential solutions to the task force at any time via rduaid@letsgetmoving.org.

You can still find your way with a paper map
While most of us use mapping software on our laptop or smartphone, sometimes it is nice to have a paper map for a broader perspective. Fortunately, NCDOT continues to provide them, and they are available at welcome centers, and even online here. I firmly believe that a review and understanding of a paper map can visually offer you insights and perspectives about a market and surrounding region that a desktop mapping software simply cannot provide.

Thank you for providing business leadership on transportation through your membership in the RTA!  

Let’s get moving,

Joe

Joe Milazzo II, PE
RTA Executive Director